


Care

by Madilayn



Series: Prompt Fics [2]
Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Illnesses, Injury, Prompt Fic, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-01
Updated: 2015-07-01
Packaged: 2018-04-07 03:27:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4247568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madilayn/pseuds/Madilayn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Care prompt</p><p>i-is-a-freak asked for TaG and Care – and my response is a little Gordon/Penelope fluff</p>
            </blockquote>





	Care

It had been far too long since she had come to the Island, not since before Jeff Tracy had disappeared. She had expected to find it too painful, however she had reckoned without the sheer force of male nature that was the Tracy brothers. Yes, the pain of Jeff’s absence was there, and she could see it reflected each day in the Tracy’s whole beings, but their own natures meant it wasn’t a burden or morbid.

The Island was always so strangely peaceful, even with the noise of Thunderbirds taking off or returning. It was as if the Island wrapped itself around you and the ‘Birds were just another part of it, like the sounds of the tropical jungle or the waves on the beach.

Penelope stretched in the warm sunshine of a late spring morning. The day was perfect and she had decided to take a wander down to the sandy beach cove and work on her tan. She knew just the perfect spot on that small secluded beach. Nicely shaded by vegetation so she wouldn’t get too hot, secluded enough that she knew that she would not be overlooked by the house as she slipped her swimsuit off to ensure that she had no tanlines.

At first she was disappointed to see a neatly folded pile next to the area she had intended to sunbathe, but relaxed at the sight of the gaudy shirt. Only Gordon, she thought. He was obviously off diving so she knew that she wouldn’t be disturbed. How silly though, to leave his gear in the sun like that!

Towel laid out, she sighed and decided that an all-over tan was not really feasible – not if Gordon was likely to come upon her unexpectedly (delicious thought though it was, she wasn’t sure if he could handle the shock).

Still… She lay face down and untied her bikini top. She propped her chin on her hands and started to read the book she had bought with her, frowning occasionally at the heat that seemed to suddenly hit, and wishing she had bought a bottle of water with her. Her eyes grew fuzzy and she sank forward, her arms collapsing until she rested, to all appearances, sound asleep.  
________________________________________

“Penelope? Wake up! Open your eyes, Penelope. That’s it. Good girl.”

Her back was on fire, and her head felt full of cotton wool, mouth parched. She tried to speak but failed, however gulped at the cool water that was being offered to her. “Sips only for now, Penny. That’s my girl. Lots of little sips. Now I want you to lie back down for a second. Only a little – I need to get some cool water on you. Just say there honey. I won’t be long.” His voice was calming, soothing. She knew something was wrong with her, but wasn’t sure what. Only that she felt safe with him. 

It seemed no time until he was back and was lifting her to a sitting position again, and she leaned against his strong torso and tried to focus on something that was nagging in the back of her mind. Something about Gordon, and her sunbathing and…. His knee moved into her sight, supporting her against his leg and thigh and she suddenly felt cool wetness on her back. “Just slip this on, Penny… that’s it. You’re a torment to me like this, Penny. Here… another sip of water sweetie. That’s it. Drink up. Good girl. Can you talk, Penny? Come on, talk to me. Say hello.”

“G’rd’n?” She tried again. “Gordon?” Much better. Her voice sounded weaker than normal though. 

“Hello, Pen.. Sorry. Lady Penelope,” His voice sounded relieved. “Welcome back. You’ve got a touch of heat stroke, and a nasty sunburn. Now, I want you to drink the rest of this water before we go anywhere. Then I’m going to carry you up to the house and I can treat the sunburn and the heatstroke properly.”

“Can walk,” she slurred. 

“No, honey. Not in this state you can’t.” He gently stroked her hair back. “Drink up, Lady P.” He held the water bottle to her mouth again and she drank gratefully. “How are you going? Do you think you can hold the bottle while I carry you?”

She nodded and took another swallow of water. “Yes.”

“Good. Now don’t try to do anything, Lady P. Just stay still and trust me. Can you do that for me?”

She smiled at him. “I always trust you Gordon.” Her voice was a little stronger, she felt a little better, though she wondered just how he would lift her. Scott or Virgil – she knew that they would have the physical strength to do this. But Gordon… Gordon of the soft brown eyes and caramel streaked hair. Gordon, the only Tracy male who didn’t make her feel positively tiny. But she did trust him. One thing she knew about every Tracy – they didn’t tell you something just to make you feel better. You could trust what they said. 

If Gordon said he could carry her, then she knew he could. She held the water bottle, now nearly empty and relaxed into his hold. Fascinated, she watched the muscles play across his bare chest and in the arm she could see as he flexed to lift her and rise from his crouch.

She was barely jostled as he stood, his hold firm, but caring and he smiled at her, gentle, but still lopsided and completely and utterly Gordon. “See, that wasn’t hard was it, Your Ladyship? Now just lean against me and rest your head on my shoulder.” He swallowed suddenly. “Dammit – should have fastened the shirt… but…oh that’s nice,” he muttered as she relaxed against him. “Comfy?”

Penelope nodded. She was. Incredibly comfy, actually. His voice washed over her, soothing, caring. She felt herself drifting off. “No – Penny, honey, stay awake for me. You can’t go to sleep just yet, sweetheart.”

“Tired.”

“Yes, I know. But I need you to stay awake until I’ve got you all sorted.” He was moving swiftly, his footsteps sure. “Once I’ve got you all treated, you can sleep all you want. Not long now, Lady P.

She tried. Really she did. But… he really was comfortable, and she felt so safe in his arms. She raised the bottle of water and drank the last of it and tried to nestle further against him. Really – no wonder there was all the praise for International Rescue, not to mention all the swooning from women. 

The coolness of the air conditioning roused her as they entered the Villa and she lifted her head from his shoulder feeling the cool air through the dampness of the shirt he had slipped on her. It eased the fire in her back somewhat and she sighed in relief. He smiled down at her. “The air conditioning will help a lot, Lady P. You’ve still got a bit of a temp, so I need to cool you down a bit more. And deal with the sunburn on your back. But first - let me pop you down here and get you some more water. And me, for that matter.” He set her carefully down on a stool. “Grab onto the bench in case you feel dizzy, OK?” She nodded, feeling somewhat bereft as he padded on bare feet to the refrigerator, opening it and pulling out a bottle of water, which he downed in several large swallows. 

“I drank your water,” she croaked out. 

“You needed it more than I did, Your Ladyship. And you still do.” He pulled several bottles out and then grabbed a small sachet from a cupboard. “You’re not gunna like this, but you need the electrolytes,” he said. Gordon then looked at the array on the bench. “Max!” he yelled and bounded round the bench to grab Penelope as she swayed. “Whoops! Still not quite there.” He turned as he saw Brains’ robot glide into the room. “Max – take those up to my room and put them in the fridge there, will you. You’re lucky I was home, Lady Penelope. Everybody else is out, and you would have been pretty seriously ill if there had been nobody around until later.”

“Saw your gear on the beach,” she said, feeling him lift her again. “Where you taking me?” Her head was aching and her limbs still felt heavy and useless. 

“My bedroom,” he grinned at her. “I’m going to have my wicked wicked way with you. Or at least your sunburn and heat stroke. Really – I know where all my supplies are to treat you there. It’s faster than taking you to your room, and then having to hunt them out. Besides, my room has a much nicer view than yours. And I can get on with some work and still keep an eye on you until you’re OK.”

“What ever will people say!” It was a bad joke, but she cracked it anyway.

“I know,” he said, “thanks Max.” He manouvered them through the doorway. “The wicked Lady Penelope corrupting innocent young men. But I’m willing to make the sacrifice.” His smile was gentle and it made her glow inside. “Max, can you go and grab me some large towels and spread them on the bed for me.”

“You could put me down.”  
“Perhaps. But I rather like you where you are. And I still need to get you into the shower.”

“Why? I had a shower this morning.”

“To cool you down, honey. It’s the fastest way to get your body temperature down.” He walked into another room that was revealed to be a bathroom. “You see, dad had the brilliant idea to give all the bedrooms a bathroom. He said he didn’t want to have to wait for us all to get through with one bathroom.” That cocky grin again. “Virgil takes hours getting his hair right, you know. OK – now I’m going to turn the water on – it’s cold so be warned. I’m going to have to slip that shirt off, I need to get the water on your back. Just stand there and let me do this.” He let her slip to the ground, standing, but supported by his arm. She felt weak, and slipped her arms around him to help hold herself upright. 

“You sound like you’ve done this before. All of it I mean.”

“Yeah. All of my brothers have had heat stroke at one stage or another, especially after we first moved here. And before that, I’ve done my share of lifeguarding and dealing with sunburn and mild heatstroke.” He gently smoothed her hair out of her face. “My brothers aren’t as pretty as you though.”

“You’ll get wet!”

“That’s not a problem. I’m still in my swim gear.” She felt the shirt slide off her shoulders and suddenly she remembered what had been nagging at her. “My top!”

“I had to leave it behind. Don’t worry, Your Ladyship. I’ll go back and get it later.”

“But Gordon! I’m…”

“Shhhh. I’m trying to be all professional here. If you don’t point out the blatantly, beautifully obvious, I can stay that way.”

“So you call all your rescues sweetheart and honey?” She then gasped as he picked her up by the waist and popped her under the cold water. 

“No… well, sometimes. Children usually. And beautiful blonde ladies called Penelope.” He gently manipulated them so that she was pressed against him, her back receiving the brunt of the water. “I’m sorry, Penelope. This is going to hurt a little, but it will help take the sting out of the burn.”

She was gasping with the pain, but then felt soothed as his hand smoothed something over her back. “Aloe vera soap,” he explained. “I’ll put some more cream on it when you’re OK to get out.”

“How long will that be?”

“Good – you’re sounding much more like yourself. I don’t think long. I can feel your body temperature dropping.” He shifted his position slightly. Hers may have been dropping, but his was rising at an alarming rate. “Let me know if you start to feel dizzy or nauseous though.”

She clapped a hand over her mouth. “You had to mention.”

“Whoops! Sorry.” He gently helped her to the toilet and knelt her down. “Go for it.” And then he was gone.

The nausea didn’t last long, but the bile left her with a vile taste in her mouth and tears in her eyes as her stomach emptied itself of the water she had drunk. 

And then he was there again, gently helping her up, wiping her face with a clean cloth and giving her more water. “Don’t cry, hon.. erm.. swe.. Pen…erm… anyway, don’t cry.” 

“M’not crying.”

“Of course not. Can you drink some water for me?”

“And I’m not a baby.”

“Nope. Defintely not that. I noticed it immediately.”

“And I’m not one of your rescues.”

“I’d debate that.”

“And my back hurts.”

“Come on then, and I’ll help fix that.”

“And Gordon?”

“Yes Lady P?”

“I really think you can call me Penny if you want. We’ve had a shower together, you’ve seen me throw up. I think that society will accept a little lack of formality between us.”

“Good to know that. Can you walk out to the bed?”

“Yes.” He scooped her up. “I said I can walk to the bed”

“I know.” She relaxed as he carried her the few steps to the bed. It was rather nice to be cared for like this. He was just as gentle as he placed her on the bed. But she didn’t miss his warm gaze as he looked at her. “Lie down on your stomach. I’ve turned the air conditioning as cold as I dare, so you can keep cool, but I need to get this cream on you. It’s one of Brains’ concoctions. A couple of days and you won’t even know you had a burn. There won’t even be any peeling. But – it’s going to sting a bit as I put it on, but that won’t last.”

It did sting – enough to make her gasp, as with the sting came an icy cold. And yet, she felt like his hands soothed her even more. 

His touch was gentle, caring and she sighed as he smoothed it over her back and the backs of her legs. “That’s awfully nice,” she said, and then was vaguely disappointed when he helped her sit up. Once again, she was resting against his torso. “Now, you can have a sleep, but before then, I need you to drink this. He proffered her a bottle of some reddish liquid. “It’s water with electrolyte powder in it. Tastes foul, but you need it.” She sipped and gagged.

“Gordon, is this one of your jokes? Because it’s very unfunny.”

“Wish it was Penny. One thing Brains has yet to be able to do is fix the taste of this shit. You don’t need to drink it all at once though. One mouthful of this, and you can have two mouthfuls of water.”

“When did you get so bossy?”

“I’m always bossy when I need to be.” His tone was still gentle and he stroked her hair back again. “Sorry about the mess I’ve made to your hair, Penny.”

“I’ll make you fix it,” she said drowsily. “You can spend hours brushing the tangles out.”

“If you like. Tired?”

She nodded. “I think you’re OK to sleep a bit, but I’ll just stay to make sure you’re fine. That OK?”

“Gordon?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t go away. Do you mind if I just… lean on you to sleep? I don’t do well lying on my tummy sleeping.”

“I guess….” If he gritted his teeth, he could ignore that he had a half-naked Penelope against him. 

He settled back against the bedhead and she manouvered herself until she was lying mostly on him, her hands snaked around his body, her head on his shoulder, and she used one arm to nudge him. “You may need to put your arms around me,” she said. “For safety.”

“Yours or mine?” Please, he thought, go to sleep. Maybe when I wake up, I’ll find this was just another dream.

“Oh mine, for sure.” She moved her leg a little and smiled into his chest feeling him jump.

They stayed like that for a while and he thought she had drifted to sleep. “Gordon?”

“Yes honey?”

“I do wish you’d kiss me.”

So he did.


End file.
